DraftKings PGA DFS Picks: RBC Canadian Open Cash and GPP Strategy

This article is part of our DraftKings PGA DFS Picks series.

RBC CANADIAN OPEN

Purse: $9.8M
Winner's Share: $1.764M
FedEx Cup Points: 500 to the Winner
Location: Caledon, Ontario
Course: TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley (North Course)
Yardage: 7,389
Par: 70
2024 champion: Robert MacIntyre (Hamilton)

Tournament Preview

This is one of the biggest sports weeks of the year in Canada. The Edmonton Oilers are back in the Stanley Cup finals, looking to become the first NHL champion from north of the border in more than three decades. As for Canada's national golf championship, it was only two years ago that a far longer drought ended, when Nick Taylor rocked an entire nation by becoming the first Canadian champion in 70 years.

That incredible ending, with Taylor sinking a 72-foot eagle putt on the fourth playoff hole, will no doubt be seen often this week -- as will fellow Canuck Adam Hadwin getting leveled by an overzealous security guard while trying to celebrate one of the greatest golfing moments in Canada's history with his good friend.

This year's Canadian Open heads to a new course, TPC Toronto, which has already been designated to play host to the tournament again in 2026. (If only the Maple Leafs will still be playing then ...)

We'll get to the course breakdown in a moment. But first, the field.

As the final tuneup for next week's U.S. Open, it's always difficult to attract big names. But tournament organizers have managed to snare the biggest draw in golf, one Rory McIlroy. The world No. 2 heads a maxed-out field of 156 that also includes Ludvig Aberg, Shane Lowry, Justin Rose, defending champion Robert MacIntyre, top Canadian Corey Conners and Sungjae Im. Make of this what you will, but those seven highest-ranked players in this field are non-American.

The highest-ranked U.S. player is No. 23 and falling like a rock Wyndham Clark.

Conners, Taylor, Hadwin, Mackenzie Hughes, Taylor Pendrith and Mike Weir are among 21 Canadians in the field.

It's around this time, after the school year ends, that we see top college golfers turn pro. This year is no different.

Luke Clanton, already well known to golf fans and closing in on the top-100 OWGR, will make his pro debut. The 21-year-old Florida State alum has two runners-up in 13 career starts on the PGA Tour. Interestingly, he gave up his amateur spot in next week's U.S. Open to turn pro this week. Instead, Clanton attempted to qualify for the Open on Monday and didn't make it.

The other big collegiate name debuting this week is Gordon Sargent, the Vanderbilt alum, 2022 NCAA individual champion and former world No. 1 amateur.

David Ford, who a standout at North Carolina, actually turned pro a few weeks back at the Charles Schwab. He missed the cut. Ford won the Nicklaus Award and Haskins Award, two of the three biggest individual honors in college golf.

Now, the course.

The North Course at TPC Toronto is a 2001 design of Canadian Doug Carrick with a 2023-24 Ian Andrew renovation. The club's website describes it as "a parkland-style course built around wide corridors and challenging green sites with deep bunkers." There are 48 bunkers total, which aren't a lot, plus water on three holes, all on the back at Nos. 10, 11 and 18.

There is one tournament of semi-relevance to help us figure out what awaits the golfers at TPC Toronto. The Fortinet Cup Championship on the PGA Tour Americas was played there last September, with a winning score of 5-under by Will Cannon, now on the Korn Ferry Tour. It played longer -- 7,445 yards -- than it will this week. Johnny Keefer, also now on the KF Tour and in the field this week, shared third place two strokes back.

While the course is long, the fairways are very wide, averaging more than 35 yards. That sets up nicely for the bigger hitters. But the rough will be severe, cut at 3.75 inches.

There are six extremely long par-4s at over 480 yards, with three them 500-plus. Two of the four par-3s are 225+ yards. So there are some very long holes. There are also two par-4s under 400 yards, including the maybe-drivable 350-yard sixth. There are just two par-5s, bookending the course at Nos. 1 and 18. The first one appears to be a must-birdie at only 542 yards. The 18th is 581 yards leading to a very thin green surrounded by bunkers with water on the left and a greenside run-off into the water.

The bentgrass/poa greens are large, average 6,500 square feet.

The two hardest holes at the Fortinet were on the back The 526-yard 13th played an extreme .618 over par. The 225-yard 11th came in at .428 over par.

Course descriptions and features can always make things sound hard. And the winning score at the Fortinet was a mere 5-under (though there was wind that week). But the Tour generally errs on the side of making courses easier in their first year.

As for the weather, the area had "a long winter and wet spring," according to the Golf Course Superintendents fact sheet, which added that an "early spring ice storms caused a week and a half delay in preparation due to time spent on course clean up due to broken trees through the property." This week's conditions will see high temperatures in the 60s. There is a chance of rain the first three days, but not much. The wind should be manageable.

Historical Canadian Open factoids: This will be the 115th playing of the world's fifth oldest tournament. The only older pro tournaments are the Open Championship, U.S. Open, Western Open (now the BMW Championship) and the South Africa Open. The Canadian and Australian Opens were both first played in 1904. In 2000, Tiger Woods earned his ninth victory of the year and pulled off what is often considered the greatest shot of his career. Sitting in a fairway bunker on the par-5 18th at Glenn Abbey on Sunday, he sent a 6-iron 213 yards over water and birdied the hole for a one-stroke win over Grant Waite.

Key Stats to Winning at TPC Toronto

The most important indicators every week are current form and course history. "Key Stats" follow in importance.

Strokes Gained: Off-the-Tee, Driving Distance
Strokes Gained: Approach/Strokes Gained: Tee-to-Green
Proximity from 150-175 yards
Strokes Gained: Around-the-Green
Strokes Gained: Putting
Par-4 Efficiency 450-500 yards

Past Champions

2024 - Robert MacIntyre (Hamilton)
2023 - Nick Taylor (Oakdale)
2022 - Rory McIlroy (St. George's)
2021 - No Tournament
2020 - No Tournament
2019 - Rory McIlroy (Hamilton)
2018 - Dustin Johnson (Glen Abbey)
2017 - Jhonattan Vegas (Glen Abbey)
2016 - Jhonattan Vegas (Glen Abbey)
2015 - Jason Day (Glen Abbey)

Champion's Profile

We are flying a little blind here, but let's review what Cannon did in winning the 2024 Fortinet on the PGA Tour Americas. He ranked T42 in driving accuracy (good but not great), T32 in greens in regulation (also good but not great), second in scrambling and T13 in putts per GIR.

We don't know about his driving distance that week, but he is ranked 95th on the Korn Ferry Tour this season, which means he's not a long hitter. His short game -- scrambling and putting -- is what won Cannon the tournament. He made 16 birdies, but also had nine bogeys and one double -- on the ninth, which is a 500-yard par-4.

Runner-up Sandy Scott led the field in greens in regulation and ranked 24th in putting. Keefer, who shared third, was strong across the board and ranked seventh in putting.

There's always more than one way to win a golf tournament, but the top three on the Fortinet leaderboard all putted decently or better -- and still couldn't do better than 5-under

The over/under on the winning score as determined by golfodds.com was set at 262.5 under par, which is 17.5 under.

DRAFTKINGS VALUE PICKS

Based on Standard $50K Salary Cap

$10,000 and up

Rory McIlroy - $11,900 (Winning odds at the DraftKings Sportsbook: +450)
McIlroy arrives having won THE PLAYERS and the Masters this season yet somehow his DFS price went down from last year ($12,100) while his odds went up (+350). That already seems like a bargain. Throw in the fact that it's a long course and Scottie Scheffler is not on the premises, and McIlroy is the overwhelming favorite.

Corey Conners - $10,100 (+2000) 
Conners has played the Canadian Open very well the past three years: 6-T20-6. Yes, this is a completely different course. But the pressure is so great on Canadians to perform well, not everyone is equipped to do so. And now Conners has found some semblance of a putting stroke.

$9,000-$9,900

Shane Lowry - $9,900 (+2200) 
McIlroy is not the No. 1 player in our model; it's actually Lowry. And that's taking into account he's very short off the tee. Lowry is outstanding on approach overall, from 150-175 yards specifically, and plays the long par-4s so well. He is coming off a top-25 at the Memorial, and that was with a Sunday implosion that sent him tumbling down the leaderboard.

Sam Burns - $9,300 (+3000) 
Burns is playing his best golf of the season right now. He has top-20s in four of his past five starts, one of them being the PGA and two others being signature events. His approach play is getting better but still needs a lot of improvement. But his putter is on fire, as he leads the Tour in SG: Putting.

Harry Hall - $9,200 (+4000) 
Hall might seem like an odd play at the big price of $9,200. Then again, he's priced there for a reason. He hasn't missed a cut since THE PLAYERS and arrives with three top-20s in a row. Granted, one of them was an alternate-field event, but another was the PGA Championship and the third one was actually a tie for sixth at the Charles Schwab. Hall is ranked 19th on Tour in SG: Around-the-Green and fourth in SG: Putting.

$8,000-$8,900

Mackenzie Hughes - $8,900 (+4000) 
Like Conners, Hughes has proven capable of performing in front of Canadian crowds. He's had two top-10s and a top-15 in the past five Canadian Opens. One of his big problems this year has been driving accuracy. The generous fairways should help. He remains one of the better players around the green, and that could end up being a critical metric for golfers this week.

Eric Cole - $8,100 (+8000) 
As usual, Cole plays more than anyone else on Tour. This will be his 21st start. The is the 23rd week of the 2025 season.  He missed the Mexico Open by choice and the Masters not by choice. Cole is not very long or very accurate off the tee. But everywhere else is game is solid. His recent approach play has been outstanding.

$7,000-$7,9000

Ryan Fox - $7,700 (+8000) 
It's not so much that Fox is here because he won the alternate-field event at Myrtle Beach last month. It's more because what he's done since then. He tied for 28th at the PGA and then for 20th last week at the Memorial. The Aussie is one of the longer hitters around but, more importantly, he's ranked 35th in SG: Approach. His recent play on long par-4s and on approach from 150-175 yards has been exceptional.

Ryo Hisatsune - $7,600 (+8000) 
Hisatsune missed four of his first seven cuts in a woefully slow start to the season. He's missed only one cut since then. He has amassed four top-10s, one of them in his previous start at the Charles Schwab. The 22-year-old Japanese native is ranked in the upper half of every strokes-gained metric on Tour. Hisatsune has been especially strong of late on and around the greens.

Matti Schmid - $7,500 (+7500) 
Schmid has shorter odds than the two players just above him here. His recent results are remarkable. In his past seven starts, he has three top-10s and four missed cuts. Statistically, he's really quite good everywhere but around the green. He's among the longest hitters on Tour. He's ranked 36th in SG: Approach and 59th in SG: Putting.

$6,000-$6,9000

Mac Meissner - $6,800 (+17000) 
Meissner has made 10 of 15 cuts this year, which isn't bad. The thing is, he has only one top-25. So if you're looking for significant upside, maybe he's not your guy in the $6,000s. But he is coming off one of his best showings of the season, a tie for 28th at the Charles Schwab. He's been good on approach this season and very good around the green. Driving accuracy has been a problem, but as noted before, those players should get a bit of a break this week.

David Ford - $6,600 (+20000) 
We're grasping for sound plays in the $6,000s. We're not sure Ford is one of them. But he does have upside as one of the standout collegiate golfers this past season. We noted earlier that he debuted at the Charles Schwab with a missed cut. But Colonial is a tough track. Ford may have better luck at a long course, plus in a weaker field.

Danny Willett - $6,500 (+40000) 
Willett is a guy we often turn to down here when we can't find anyone to turn to at $6,500 or under. Which is the case this week. Willett is inconsistent enough to miss the cut in a weak field one week and good enough to make the cut at the Masters the next (he tied for 42nd). He is so good around the green (eighth on Tour) and on the green (11th in putting) that he has considerable upside. However, it rarely surfaces.

On board with Len's selections? See how they stack up alongside other golfers in RotoWire's PGA DFS Lineup Optimizer.